A Very Smooshy Christmas

Good news internet: I officially have a barn friend who is down for random photo shoots. (I guess that's bad news if you hate totally adorable Zoe photos, but I sort of don't believe that person exists.) 

d'awwww

I also have officially the cutest Christmas pictures of all time.

SMOOSH STOCKING

Prepare yourselves to be spammed.

oh and happy holidays! 

Baby Horse Training: Initial Thoughts

Zoëbird is my first "actual" baby in terms of a horse that came to me with only good handling and no negative baggage to overcome. 

awwwww

It's magical. Really.

I mean, yeah, it helps that she has this incredible brain and is level-headed and intelligent for sure.

After all the rubber-meets-the-road theory testing I did with Courage, I am having a fabulous time applying those things with Zoëbird.

riding

I definitely realize I'm totally spoiled here--I cannot overemphasize what a cool girl Ms. ZB is. If there was ever a horse that could handle the rigors of the "young horse" type program, it's her.

And yet.

I have zero interest in pushing her along that road. I am on principle opposed to time-bound competitions for young horses. I think it encourages egotistical behavior and a wanton disregard for the long term good of the horse. (Admittedly, it could be argued that the competitions themselves weed that out--high achieving pairs are rewarded and those who pushed too fast too soon generally sift to the bottom of the barrel.)

Instead, I find that with Zoëbird, the accomplishments are their own reward. She went from afraid of the hose to confidently standing in the washrack and letting me hose her whole body down with zero use of force or extra people. I just went slow and explained it and rewarded every try.

success

We're doing the same thing under saddle. I have a very cool rider helping me out at this point--she just sits loose and comfortable with soft hands and soft legs. Zoë is never punished for trying--any effort merits a release.

trotting off the lunge!!

Again, Zoë has given us nothing but solid effort and sure, we could probably push things along more quickly. But you know what's cooler than jamming a horse around for a few quick instagram updates that gloss over the struggles?

NOT WANT TROT Y R U KICKIN THE ZB STAHP

Going slow. Explaining every step. Watching the light bulb click on and having my very cool baby horse start to offer behaviors because she understands the question. 

so basically she's a champion of everything

Right now, everything is new for Zoëbird. But every single day, she shows up to work.

HAI COOKEES?

It is so much fun to work with a horse that wants to be there. Whether it's her first time trotting off the lunge line, her first ride with me up, or her first time playing with ground poles, Zoëbird is the sort of horse that makes every day fun for both of us. 

Baby Bird

Lil Ms. Zoëbird is officially a grade horse. However. She's the result of a ranch breeding program that was creating a very specific type of horse-level headed, sturdy, good to be around. Also they took tons of pictures. The day I met her, I spent hours going back through their social media and I present you with:

DUN DUN DUN

Baby pictures!!

SHES A BEEBEE

Of course, I should back pedal a little. Here is her beautiful daddy:

basically a barbie dream horse

He's a purebred (but I think not registered?) Percheron stallion. 

Momma was (/is) a quarter horse/paint cross named Dove.

chrome!

By all accounts, momma had a lovely disposition and the cross produced several excellent horses. 

This blog is not about those horses. It's about a baby Bird!! 

KYOOT

Can you even??

you cannot

SO WEETLE

Noted: I have a very strict rule about all-original photography on this blog and clearly I did not travel back in time to meet baby Zoë, however sorely I was tempted. These photos are all shamelessly stolen from her breeder. I would link the breeder, but they have since slowed down the breeding program. I have not met them, but if I did, I'd thank them for creating a lovely little mare. 

And that folks, is what a baby Zoëbird looked like.

Unintentionally Amazing

It's probably just the heat getting to me (/turning into an old person), but I have so many people telling me JUST GET ON THE HORSE that yesterday morning, I felt like throwing bricks at the next person who suggested it. We're going SLOW, I have a TRAINER, and the literal SHIT TON OF BAGGAGE I have is not helping anyone. HENCE THE TRAINER.

Alyssa photos!

But Alyssa hadn't been able to meet Zoebird yet (because "competing at Rebecca" is something she does now #badass) so she trooped out to play on a hot, hot afternoon.

Cantering!

I didn't have any big plans--we smooshed Zoe's adorable smooshable face and fed her cookies and laughed about how round and cute she is. Then we put tack on her and I did the simple groundwork stuff we've been doing. I thought about hunting down my trainer's surcingle and driving lines, but it was hot and that seemed like a lot of work, so instead we went to hang out at the mounting block.

she's real cute guys

It's a valuable life skill, right? When her trainer goes to get on her, it will help if she's used to standing next to something, having someone over her, having a little weight in the saddle, etc.

Clearly, Ms. Zoebird was DEEPLY perturbed by all these shenanigans.

many shits given

And Alyssa was like "she looks like you could get right on her" and she was just standing there with a camera and nothing to do, so there would be documentation.

Sooooo.

I put my helmet on.

I tightened the girth.

And I got on!

(Well I mean. I weighted the stirrup. Stood up. Got back down. Stood up again. Sat in the saddle. Got back off. A couple times. Then sat down.)

um hello new favorite picture

Zoe didn't even blink. Nada. She was just standing there now with me on her.

what friends are for

It is 2017 so I was like IDEA I WILL RIDE OVER THERE AND GET MY PHONE TO TAKE A SELFIE but then realized that just because you can do shit on your adorable baby horse probably doesn't mean you should, so Alyssa handed me the phone for selfie purposes and after taking a satisfactory selfie, I got off. 

first baby ears pic

It's still the plan to have someone with less baggage do her first real rides and all. But omg!! I sat on my horse and she was fantastic!! 

Found: Strong Black Female Protagonist

When I found out that THE ONE Roxie's Mom had found for me to check out was a solid black mare, I preemptively named her Zoe Washburne.

Because I need a Zoe. Calm under pressure, ready for an adventure, and 1000% reliable.

Armed with two pictures and a phone number, I called a stranger out of the blue about the horse he hadn't even listed for sale.

I found a horseman on the other end of the line, someone who loved his horse very much and was in a similar position that I was with Courage--not the horse for him any more, but he still loved her and he wasn't going to let her go anywhere less than the perfect place.

We talked. I tried to ask intelligent questions and not sound like a complete bumbling idiot (and not ask questions like "what size browband" and "do you think she likes sparkles" which were the only things coming into my head). I managed to not scare him off too badly apparently, because he agreed to email me more information.

Emails were exchanged. I knew the owners would want updates, so I sent my blog information along, only to find out that they'd already googled me and found it... which like... apparently I don't sound like a total idiot (or at least not too much of one), so that's promising. We set up a time for me to meet Ms. Zoe (whom they called Bird), annnnnnd I was off on a whirlwind weekend trip.

I brought a friend with me because I needed objective eyes on the ground. Plus pictures. Always pictures.

I pretty much stepped out of my car and went "omg i love her let's put her in the back seat she's perfect".

And then I was reminded that this was as much her owners interviewing me as it was me meeting Ms. Zoebird.

Lil Ms. Zoebird impressed me very much. I knew going in that she was a four year old Percheron x AQHA/APHA that was bred to be a ranch horse, I knew she had six months of driving training, and I knew she wasn't started under saddle. I didn't know that she moved NICE or that she was a hard little worker with a lot of try and a can-do attitude.

Shoutout to R & J if they are reading--what I promised my friend would be an hour of looking at a horse, then going to the lake turned into a multi-hour adventure with some fascinating new friends. Conversation ranged from breeding to corrective shoeing and even touched on beagles and dog training. I value knowing a horse's history and handling and I'm thrilled that Ms. Zoebird is coming from people like this.

We never did make it to the lake, but armed with pictures and video, we trooped home. The whole trip home was basically me being like "omg i want her she's so pretty and sweet and perfect" and my friend being like "yeah".

Trainer and vet signed off. Shipping arrangements made.

Bloglandia, meet my Zoebird. She arrives this week!!

One Horse, Two Saddles...

On account of the whole barn moving this week (theoretically), I picked up all my tack and took it home until the transition is over. Things have a way of just walking away, and I figured that the confusion of a move would involve stuff disappearing if I didn't take good care of it.

I have one horse. I've only been a horse owner for a little over a year.

Here is my stuff:

And a couple more boxes that are not pictured. Yikes. ALL FOR ONE HORSE. The sad thing is that I can justify why I need every single bit of it.

It is officially a pain to have to preselect the stuff I need and haul it out with me in the mornings, though. Today we did dressage. That meant I had to bring my grooming kit, dressage saddle and girth, saddle blanket, wither pad, Izzy's bridle, Cassie's bridle, a dressage whip, my helmet, and gloves. So I have to carry it all to my car, then from my car to the barn, then back.

Despite all the gear wrangling, I had an excellent ride. I'm thinking I'll use this week to really focus on dressage and developing impulsion with Izzy and then try to transfer that energy into jumping next time we get a chance.

Speaking of the lovely mare, I found an old notebook when cleaning out my tack locker. In the notebook were a couple pictures I drew of Izzy when she was a baby. They're not spectacular, but they're fun.
There are pictures of her as a baby. I'll have to see if I can find one.

Trouble in Pony World

Remember how a week or so ago I was promising that I wasn't going to go nuts and get into all that "natural" stuff just because I'm getting a treeless saddle? Well, I still mean it, but Izzy needed her feet done in a bad way. The regular farrier, who I wasn't too thrilled with, wasn't scheduled to come out for several weeks, which irked me. His schedule never seems to line up with when she needs her feet done. I talked to a friend of mine about it, and we had her farrier come out early to do both our horses.

Yes, she (!!) is a barefoot trimmer (!!). First off, there aren't a lot of female farriers in Idaho. It's just sort of a man's job, and Idaho is old school and patriarchal enough that not a lot of women even want to do that. I don't have a problem with a female farrier, but it was unusual enough to note. Second, yes, she does barefoot stuff. I figured it's not a big deal. Izzy isn't wearing shoes right now anyways, so what's the difference?

I was actually quite pleased. She was good, quick, and gentle, and she talked to me about my horse's feet. I like that. The other guy was fast and efficient, but he never said anything and rarely answered questions. Izzy threw a fit about her last hoof, so we just turned her out, did the other horse, then came back and finished Izzy. It was mostly an attention span problem, and I was pleased with how she (the farrier) handled it.

All's well that ends well. Plus, she's $10 cheaper than the guy I didn't like.

In other news, I got Bear out again today. I'd left him alone because with the presentation last week, I just didn't have time to deal with his form of neurosis. I really didn't have time today, either. It was 10 by the time we were done with the farrier, and I needed to get to work. I hate being late to work because I always have to leave early anyways to get to school. Nothing like a full schedule.

That said, I didn't rush Bear. He's one, like most others, that just needs time. I find him frustrating because he just doesn't have an attention span. He kicks almost constantly when I pick up his feet because he's forgotten I'm there and can't figure out why his feet are stuck. It's not malicious; it's just dumb. He was ok to groom, fussy about the saddle, and then absolutely wouldn't take the bridle. Michelle assured me she'd put it on him in the past few days, but then managed not to be there when I was trying. In her defense, she spent yesterday in the emergency room. (Needle in foot=much pain.)

I finally got the bridle on him with another boarder's help. She's a shorter lady used to dealing with tall horses, so she showed me how to ask for him to put his head down and eventually he just gave up and took it. He was awful in the arena. I think he needs more turnout, because he would just jump straight up in the air, then explode bucking, then stop to look at something, all the while forgetting I was there.

Apparently, his owner is claiming that a friend of hers beat this horse around the head and that explains his behavior. I don't really buy that. First off, just being a big, dumb, pushy baby explains most of it. Second, he's not headshy. Sure, he's not wild about complete strangers running up and grabbing his face, but he doesn't have a meltdown, either. Third, and I guess this is a completely different topic, but who on earth just lets their "friend" beat a horse around the face? Maybe I'm imposing my high standards on others, but there's no way I unleash a newbie around a horse until I've drilled into their head that they will absolutely never hurt it. As for more experienced people, I never let them alone if I distrust them at all.

Anyways... I'm soldiering on. I'm thinking about asking for a contract type agreement so we both know what we're working with. I don't feel like training someone else's horse just because I'm a nice person. (I'm really not that nice. Just try beating my horse around the head and you'll find out.) While I know the owners intend to pay me, I think the best path forward is to discuss exactly what they're willing to pay, what I want to make, and how trained the horse is to end up being. It's hard to make decisions without knowing this sort of thing. Also, I rather want them to provide the tack. It's their horse and if does something stupid, I'd rather mine and Cathy's not be damaged. Is that so unreasonable?

Baby Daddy

No, I haven't bred Miss Izzy. I just realized that I wanted to post a picture of the crush I have for her. She's sort of met him (they were at the same show), and of course, she's in love with him. She's a silly little hussy though. She's pretty much in love with every stallion and gelding she's ever met. The only one she takes exception to is the stupid ugly donkey that's out at the barn. I guess I shouldn't call him stupid; he's very intelligent, but he is ugly and he's always getting out. Also, he's a stud. The other day, he got out while I was leading Izzy to the hitching post, and he tried to mount her. She kicked him really hard twice, and he gave up, but still. My poor girl was almost raped by a donkey. How horrid.

Without further ago, here's her potential baby daddy: http://traceybajt.exposuremanager.com/p/2_9_4_jumpers/08bfc-79722

The next two pictures are of him, too. He's a 16.2 Dutch Harness Horse named Vini Vidi Vicchi (not sure on the spelling). Fancy mover, so the baby wouldn't be much of a hunter, but the stallion jumps like a dream. Also, he's apparently gentle and easy to get along with, which would be nice to add to Izzy's temperament.

Sigh. Maybe in a few years. I keep dreaming about them wanting to have a warmblood baby on the ground, so they offer free breeding, but really? I don't think that's likely. I can't be this lucky at everything I do.